Electronic chassis, which house electronic components for high-speed telecommunication and networking applications, are typically mounted on a rack that is in turn enclosed in an electronics cabinet. The chassis are typically positioned in the rack in a vertically stacked orientation, one on top of the other.
Each chassis is typically a box-like structure having top, bottom and side walls. The bottom wall of the chassis typically has openings to allow air to circulate up through the chassis. A plurality of vertically oriented application cards is typically inserted into the chassis. A fan tray assembly including a plurality of fans is typically located adjacent the top of the chassis, which, in operation, draws air upward from the bottom of the chassis and between the application cards to provide ventilation for various electronic components mounted on the application cards. A horizontally oriented air filter is typically inserted into a bottom portion of the chassis to prevent airborne pollutants, such as dirt particles, from entering the chassis and interfering with the electronic components housed within the chassis.
Attempts have made to provide a vent adjacent the top of the chassis to vent heated exhaust air out of the chassis. These vents are located along the front face of the chassis so that the exhaust air exits the chassis in a direction that is generally perpendicular to the front face of the chassis. Convention vents are typically screen-like structures that have a plurality of round or square openings. In the alternative, louvered openings may be provided. There are, however, many disadvantages to these conventional exhaust vents. For example, conventional exhaust vents typically restrict the amount of flow of exhaust air through the chassis an unacceptable amount, which may result in the overheating of the electronic components in the chassis. Moreover, conventional exhaust vents do not force the exhaust air downwardly as it exits the chassis. As a result, heated exhaust air that exits a first chassis can more easily be drawn into a second chassis positioned immediately above the first chassis thereby causing overheating of the electronic components in the second chassis. Finally, conventional exhaust vents typically do not provide an aesthetically pleasing solution for venting because they allow the interior of the chassis to be viewed from the outside, and therefore do not conceal the internal components of the chassis.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have an exhaust vent for an electronic chassis that overcomes the disadvantages described above.